ICYMI: Governor Spanberger Calls for Congress to Create National AI Guardrails

RICHMOND, VA - Governor Abigail Spanberger yesterday joined WTOP to discuss the steps Virginia is taking to address concerns around the rapid development of artificial intelligence - including the new AI Task Force established through Executive Order 22 - and urged Congress to take immediate action to set national federal guardrails.

In a letter this week to House Speaker Mike Johnson and congressional leadership, Governor Spanberger warned of the significant negative impacts on data privacy, employment, and large-scale resource consumption without federal action.

"Here in Virginia, I pushed out my Data Center Accountability Framework, which has AI-focused components, recognizing the real challenges that exist to our communities and recognizing the need for the state to take action," said Governor Abigail Spanberger. "Our AI Task Force is focused on addressing the significant risks to our jobs, our privacy, and our cybersecurity posed by the real, rapid development of AI."

Governor Spanberger continued, "While we're working in Virginia to address some of these concerns at the state level, there are simply elements that have to happen on a national level. And that's why, certainly as the leader of the Commonwealth of Virginia, I am calling on members of Congress - and particularly congressional leadership - to actually really do their job because this is among the singular roles that only they can take on to create a real nationwide framework."

Read below or click here to listen to Governor Spanberger's interview on WTOP.

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Anne Kramer: You wrote to congressional leaders that there is too much at stake to allow AI regulation to be left up to private companies. How surprised are you that Congress hasn't acted yet to put some of these regulations or restrictions in place?

Governor Spanberger: Unfortunately, this particular Congress hasn't taken action on so many of the issues that matter to the American people at this time. But that shouldn't preclude anyone from expecting Congress to take steps to create a regulatory framework for a technology that is ever-evolving, one that is causing deep concern among the American public and one where we actually need federal regulation. Certainly, we can work at the state level to try and take steps to protect our communities and to create some sort of backstopping. But ultimately, it needs to happen at the federal level - and, more than that, on the global stage, with federal leadership leading the way.

Shawn Anderson: What specifically do you want leaders on Capitol Hill to do?

Governor Spanberger: Create rules of the road. This is a technology that is being developed without any sort of framework or guidance or no guideposts. This is a place where whether it is defense innovation, space innovation or airline development, there have long been efforts to regulate complicated, difficult industries where there is a clear knowledge that a company that makes a mistake or goes the wrong way because of a profit motive or because of lack of regulation can cause harm to people and to lives. And in fact, we know, because AI CEOs themselves are saying there is real potential risk within their technology. It is absolute negligence at the federal level that we do not have a Congress that is working aggressively around the clock to put an initial framework of regulation in place and that is something that we absolutely need.

Here in Virginia, I pushed out my Data Center Accountability Framework, which has AI-focused components, recognizing the real challenges that exist to our communities and recognizing the need for the state to take action. Our AI Task Force is focused on addressing the significant risks to our jobs, our privacy and our cybersecurity posed by the real rapid development of AI. And that is part of a larger framework that is most comprehensive and aggressive in terms of data center accountability measures in the country but as we are seeing this across the country, including, and I'll say this again that AI CEOs themselves are sounding the alarm on the potential impacts of AI and that they are potentially so great that they can cause great harm to the human life.

This is exactly why we need to ensure that regulation exists on a nationwide scale. And so while we're working in Virginia to address some of these concerns at the state level, there are simply elements that have to happen on a national level. And that's why, certainly as the leader of the Commonwealth of Virginia, I am calling on members of Congress, and particularly congressional leadership, to actually really do their job because this is among the singular roles that only they can take on to create a real nationwide framework in light of the real concerns that people have and, frankly, the real risks.

Anne Kramer: What worries you the most when you think about AI?

Governor Spanberger: The fact that right now you have, driving the development, unregulated actors, the world over, where there is a clear motive and financial incentive for them to move very quickly. You can compare it to other types of industry where if there's not basic environmental protections in the mining industry, you will see - and historically, we did see - dangerous work conditions that led to worker deaths and strip mining that led to major environmental catastrophes and damage. Regulations where they create a basic floor and guardrails to any sort of development or new industry is extraordinarily important. Particularly when you have a technology that continues to develop at such a pace that where it is today versus where we thought it would be five years ago is just such an incredible step forward.

Thinking about what the development of AI and what it is, functioning and doing, a year from now is such another extraordinary leap. That is the reason that we need clear rules of the road because in the absence of that, the negative impact and the risk to human life is real. And when the CEOs of these companies are saying that they need to be regulated, I think that is probably one of the most astounding elements to consider - that they are recognizing the risk of their own technology and want clear guidance and rules of the road.

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